A different way of growing up: Bao Gu Orphanage
by EmmaMine
Summary: What if Mr. Ping wasn't the first person to discover Po in that radish box? What if instead he ended up at Bao Gu Orphanage where he meets a fiery tempered young Tigress. Little do they know, they are destined to become legendary Kung Fu warriors. Beginnings of a Ti/Po
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Lost At Sea**

It was a few hours later, after the baby Panda had cried himself to sleep did he blink open his large green eyes, awakening from his slumber. It was dark, but small slivers of light filtered in from the cracks in his turnip crate. He yawned and stretched his paws in his confined space, hitting the top of the closed box. He wiggled against the remaining turnips, smelling one before picking it up with his small paws and taking a big bite.

Giggling and cooing as he ate the turnip he looked around his box. Where was his mother?

The little panda remembered being carried through the snow, till his mother placed him in the crate before leaving. He sniffed the air a bit, but couldn't find a trace of her scent anywhere. The panda decided he wanted out of his crate now. He wobbled up on his back paws and placed his front pads on the side of the closed crate and pushed.

The box wobbled a bit, but didn't budge from its spot. Now he was getting frustrated, tears began to well up in his eyes as he pushed again, and again, but it was no use. The little panda began to cry and whimper as he scratched at the top of the box.

"Momma!" He cried as he peaked out the cracks of his wooden prison. He could see the outlines of other wooden crates that surrounded him. Suddenly the ground began to roll, throwing the little panda and his crate against the other boxes of vegetables.

A door swung open to reveal a large pig dressed in worn brown pants and a large white apron that hung from his neck and tied around his waist.

"That's one hell of a storm out there!" he said to the goose that walked in behind him out of the rain.

"Buuur, it's freezing out there", the goose exclaimed shaking himself of water.

"Well let's hurry up and get these crates to the kitchen so we can warm up."

The big pig grunted as he bent down to pick up a box of cabbage. They were currently sailing on a merchant ship to Gongmen City, sent to deliver food and gunpowder for some celebration of sort. The goose bent to grab a box of carrots when he heard a whimpering sound coming from a turnip box.

"What the?" he said, eyeing the crate suspiciously.

He slowly walked over to the crate and knocked on it with his wing, "Hello?"

"Ahhhh!"

A cry came from side the box as well as the sound of scratching wood. Startled, the goose jumped back.

"My goodness!" he said looking around the crate room, "that sounded like."

He trailed off when he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the crowbar from behind a few other crates and began to pry the top off the turnip box. With a grunt the, nails gave away and the top flung open to reveal a small baby panda surrounded by a few half eaten turnips.

The panda gave a sniff, and looked up and the goose looming over him with wide eyes. The Goose stared back in shock as the baby gazed up at him with curious eyes. Letting out a giggle and reaching up for the goose, the baby panda smiled.

"Boarus!" the goose yelled for his companion, turning from the child.

"WHAT?" He responded entering through the door way.

"What is all the shouting, Ling?" Boarus asked walking over to him and the crates.

"We have a problem." Ling responded stepping aside to reveal the panda cooing in the turnip basket.

Boarus was dumb founded, "A baby? How did it get in the crates?"

"How should I know" Ling shouted nervously.

"Alright! Alright! Don't shout," Boarus said picking up the baby panda.

He cooed a little at the contact and pawed at the pig's snout. The big pig huffed but his eyes warmed bit at the affectionate child.

"What's a pandas doing on our ship" he wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but we better get rid of him soon!" Ling whispered looking around nervously.

"Captain Al won't like a stow away."

Al was a Chinese Alligator and the captain of this vessel, The Lotus. He was a strict leader and would take kindly to anything that threw off the balance of his tightly managed ship.

"And what do you suggest?" Boarus asked, narrowing his gaze at Ling.

"Throw him over the side into the waves?"

"No, but he can't stay here!" Ling responded exasperated, waving his arms in the air.

"We will reach Gongmen city in two months time." Boarus said turning away from the exasperated goose.

"We can keep him in the kitchen and out of the way of the captain till then."

Turning back to the infant in his arms, "Come on you little rascal."

He said walking towards the door. "Let's get you something to eat!"

"Goo!" the baby responded, raising his arms excitedly.

"Oh, this is going to be very bad!" Ling groaned and ran after the Boarus and their new secret baby panda.

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This story is kind of an experiment in a different beginning to Po's story. Plus I just think that baby Po is the cutest little thing EVER!** XD


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey everyone! I just want to thank every one that followed and favorited this story even though I only had on chapter up! I'm so glad that you guys are interested in my story! Enjoy this next chapter._

 _Special thanks to J_ _ **ustagirlofsomefandoms**_ _and_ _ **Jugalpratimdas**_ _for being my first commenters! I really appreciate your feedback._

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 **Chapter 2**

Between hiding the baby panda and keeping him from cleaning out the entire ship of food, the two months they spent together at sea flew by in an instant. Boarus decided to name the child Po, because of his tendency to get into the potato baskets.

Ling was fluttering nervously around the kitchen, as usual, "We are going to dock soon! We need to figure out a way to get Po off of the boat without the Captain seeing."

Boarus finished chopping up some vegetables for today's lunch before looking up at his assistant.

"Well, he got on in those crates pretty easily without anybody noticing, so I figure he can get off the same way." He replied.

Boarus turned around, wiping his hand on his apron, eyes sweeping the room for a black and white fur ball.

"Ah! No, Po!" Boarus said waging a scolding finger when he spotted him reaching for the freshly made dumplings.

"You know those aren't for you."

Po looked up at him guilty, frozen on his hind paws, front paws out stretched out to grab a dumpling on the table. His big green eyes started collecting tears.

"Bo!" he whimpered.

The nearly two year old was getting better with words everyday and had given Boarus the nickname Bo. Sighing and holding back a smile, the big pig lumbered over to him, grabbing a discarded carrot off the counter.

"Here you little glutton." He handed the carrot to Po giving him an affectionate pat on the head. The little panda munched on the carrot happily giggling at a flustered Ling, who was still pacing around the kitchen.

"We will have to do this tonight, when Po is asleep." Ling said mumbling to himself.

"Yes, yes. Ling how about you put the child to sleep? Then maybe you could finish your job as my assistant?" Boarus interjected pointing to a very sleepy looking panda.

Ling sighed and nodded, picking up the half asleep Po and carrying him to his basket, in a corner out of sight. As anxious as he was to get the child off the boat, the Panda had begun to grow on him. He carefully tucked the sleeping panda into his makeshift bed. Po yawned, opening his small mouth wide as Ling tucked a small blanket around him.

About an hour later, the boat finally docked in Gongmen harbor as the sun was beginning to set over the city. Boarus made sure Po was sound asleep before placing a lid, loosely over the crate he slumbered in. The other crew members had already begun unloading the cargo when Boarus motioned for Ling to follow him, Po's crate clenched tightly in his wing.

"Do we even know where to take him?" Ling whispered to Boarus as they walked across the deck.

"There has to be a foster care center in Gongmen city. We can just drop him off there." He whispered back scanning the deck for any suspicious activity.

Ling looked sadly down at the crate in his hand. Poor Po was sure in for a rough time.

"Boarus! Ling! Why aren't you two helping unload like everyone else?" A loud booming voice called out to them.

Boarus winced and Ling jumped at the voice of their captain, causing the little panda inside the crate to bounce and hit his head on the lid pushing it off the box. Po let out a small cry of pain and shock at being suddenly awoken.

Captain Al's head twitched at the noise, "What was that?" he asked eyeing the two suspiciously.

Ling gulped, "Sir, we can explain."

"It's a child Captain." Boarus stated plainly, cutting Ling off.

"We found him on the ship when we last docked while at sea so; we figured this was a good time to let him off." The captain approached them slowly peering into the basket to reveal a curious baby panda staring back at him.

"A panda?" Al said raising an eyebrow, his frown melting into one of worry.

"Do you know what you have done?! Do you know what we carry on this ship?" he bit out glaring at Boarus.

He frown at the captain's harsh tone, "Food and gunpowder for a celebration at Gongmen Palace." He answered.

Al put a large claw to his forehead, "Lord Shen arranged for this delivery personally. It's in preparation for the celebration of his victory."

He looked to the docks nervously, "His victory in whipping out the village of pandas!" Boarus paled and Ling gasped, nearly dropping Po and his crate.

"I suggest you get rid of that panda immediately!" Captain Al whispered with urgency.

Boarus pick up Po out of his crate, "Sir, he is just a child! He'll be killed!" Boarus half shouted angrily at his captain.

Po turned to look up at Boarus, he didn't like all the shouting that was going on and his current caretaker seemed to be distressed.

"Bo?" Po asked questioningly, raising his arms to paw at Boarus's face.

"Sir, we are almost finished unloading."

One of the deckhands called out to the captain, "Also an inspector has arrived. He says its standard procedure."

A large gray wolf with the red symbol of Lord Shen walked haughtily onto the boat. Boarus quickly turned to hide Po from view and Ling covered his beak with his wing. The Captain's stance stiffened and back straightened as he turned to face the potentially hostile newcomer. As strict as Al seemed, even he didn't feel comfortable with throwing a child to the wolves, literally.

"Take him to my quarters and stay there. Don't leave till I come get you." Al whispered to Boarus, dismissing him with a nod.

Boarus nodded, walking quickly towards the Captain's quarters with Ling scrambling behind him. Once they were safely in the captain's room, Boarus let out a sigh of relief and Ling collapse on the floor with a groan.

"We are so lucky." Ling mumbled into the floor.

"So, the Captain does have a heart under all those tough scales." Boarus chuckled as he set Po down on the Captain's bed.

They watched Po play with the bed pillows for about 15 minutes before Al finally walked into the room. He let out a groan, sliding his large black hat off his head and setting it on his desk before plopping down in his chair.

"They're gone, for now." He grunted, "But we need to leave port first thing tomorrow morning to avoid any suspicion."

Boarus and Ling sighed in relief.

"What are we to do with the kid?" Boarus asked sitting up from his place on the bed beside Po.

"The next port we're headed to is The Valley. There's an orphanage there that will be able to take care of him." Al responded looking weary, "Until then, care for him the same way you have been and keep his presence on this boat to a minimum. I don't need any of the crew spreading rumors that will come back to haunt me."

A smile broke on Boarus's face, picking Po up with a laugh, "Looks like you'll be here for a bit longer kid!"

Po giggled as he was thrown in the air, even Ling was smiling.

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 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sure you're wondering when Tigress is going to make her appearance... You'll just have to wait till the next chapter!~~_

 _I apologize if there are any grammar mistakes, sometimes I miss a few. XD_


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